Vivid Studio Insider For May 31, 2013

FOX SAYS STEVEN HIRSCH ‘MOST POWERFUL PERSON IN PORN’ – In an article for FoxNews.com, Fox411 Pop Tarts reporter Hollie McKay says Steven Hirsch may be at the pinnacle of his industry. She reports first on the Farrah Abraham phenomenon, noting that she earned “a reported $1 million for her professional sex video, distributed by Vivid Entertainment. ‘It has created such a phenomenon and is so popular, we were caught off guard,” Vivid founder and co-chairman, Steven Hirsch, told FOX411’s Pop Tarts column. “We had 10 million visits to the site in the first few days, more people trying to access the film in one week than we had in the first six months of Kim Kardashian’s tape with Ray J.’ Because of Vivid’s involvement with celebrity sex scandals, Hirsch himself is becoming something of a household name, and is deemed by many to now be the most powerful person in porn. The father of Hollywood film parodies and the celebrity sex tape, Hirsch is responsible for the distribution of the homemade productions featuring the likes of Pamela Anderson, Kendra Wilkinson and Montana Fishburne, among others.” The article then goes on to discuss changes in the adult business, concluding: “But Hirsch is confident that the next 10 years will bring plenty of rewards, at least for him. ‘There are more people than ever wanting to get into this business. We’ve got Vivid radio, licensing our name for two gentleman’s clubs,’ he said. ‘We’re fortunate we have a reputation for producing quality. We sign the most beautiful women, and create sophisticated content. Even if people don’t pay for the content and watch it on a site, there is advertising and clicking through other links. They pay in some other way.’” A version of the article also appeared in The New York Post under the headline: “Meet the man who created Kim K, with porn.” It featured the Kim Kardashian Superstar DVD cover and noted: “Kim Kardashian's sex tape released by Vivid Entertainment is one of the most successful homemade celebrity sex tapes of all time. Over the last decade, the adult industry has maneuvered its way into the mainstream, largely on the backs – and other parts – of celebrities whose homemade sex tapes went public: sometimes on accident, sometimes not so much.”

FORBES.COM: VIVID IS ‘UNIVERSAL STUDIOS OF ADULT MOVIES’ – Forbes.com writer Susannah Breslin featured Vivid this week in an article that reported: “Adult companies have been forced to reinvent themselves as the proliferation of X-rated content online has made making a buck off showing skin exponentially more challenging.” Breslin added: “’There’s only a few names in the adult arena that people really know — Playboy, Penthouse, Hustler — and then I think it’s us,’ Steven Hirsch, founder and co-chairman of Vivid Entertainment, the Universal Studios of adult movies, tells me. Now that Hirsch has distributed porn across America through videos, DVD, and the internet, he’s licensed the Vivid name to Rick’s Cabaret International (RICK), a Houston, Texas-based company that operates dozens of gentlemen’s clubs across the country and is one of the rare adult companies that’s publicly traded and listed on NASDAQ. Two Vivid Cabaret strip clubs (“The cabaret stands for higher-end properties,” Hirsch notes) will open this year — one in Los Angeles, slated to open in June not far from LAX, and one in New York City, slated to open by the end of the year in Midtown Manhattan. Hirsch’s comeback plan is more like a world takeover, as he sees it. The cabarets are part of a larger effort being staged by Vivid to increase revenue. In addition to Vivid.com and adult movies, there’s VividTV, VividTouch, Vivid Cams, and the upcoming Vivid Radio, all of which Hirsch intends to promote in the bi-coastal strip clubs. So far, the company has licensed its name to condoms and vodka. ‘We’re always looking to expand our brand,’ Hirsch purrs. As far as consumers, he adds, strip clubs and adult movies share ‘a very similar demographic.’”

FARRAH TELLS XCRITIC INTEREST IN HER VIDEO IS A ‘GOOD THING’ – XCritic.com interviewed Farrah Abraham, noting that “Farrah Superstar: Backdoor Teen Mom made its debut on Vivid.com to record sales.” Asked why she chose James Deen as her video partner, she replied, “I had not heard of him but someone told me he would be good for my personal sex tape.” She also said that “I’m comfortable with every decision I’ve made and excited by how popular the movie has become.” As for the tape’s popularity, she said, “It means that people are really interested in me and that’s a good thing,” but she insisted it was a “One shot deal!” XCritic ended its interview with an invitation for viewers to watch Farrah Superstar: Backdoor Teen Mom online.

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